Cosby Ordered to Pay 20 Cents in Damages

By The Associated Press

Published: August 7, 1994

Bill Cosby should have no trouble raising the money he has been ordered to pay a photographer who says the entertainer assaulted him.

Mr. Cosby must give the photographer, Dick Corkery, 20 cents.

A Federal civil court jury in Manhattan said on Friday that Mr. Cosby had touched Mr. Corkery during a June 1992 incident at a ceremony honoring Mr. Cosby's wife, Camille, but that Mr. Corkery was 90 percent responsible.

The jury ordered awards of $1 each for assault and battery -- though with Mr. Cosby only 10 percent responsible he must pay just 20 cents, said Jack Schmitt, a lawyer for Mr. Cosby.

In court last week, Mr. Cosby testified that he had a heated argument with Mr. Corkery, a photographer for The Daily News, but never assaulted him.

The entertainer said he posed for photographs before entering the Metropolitan Museum of Art and taking his seat at the ceremony. When he began applauding in the darkened auditorium, Mr. Corkery started snapping pictures.

Mr. Cosby said he got a security guard and held the photographer's elbow as the three of them left the auditorium.

In his opening statement, Mr. Corkery's lawyer, Robert Steinberg, said Mr. Cosby had dragged the photographer "somewhere between 20 and 40 feet, bashed him through two doors to get him out of the auditorium and continued to drag him."